TN: Big ticket hospital in trauma ward

SALEM: The future of the 441-bed super-speciality hospital here—built on the lines of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences—is in the realm of uncertainty. This was clear when minister for highways K Palanisamy said the government was yet to take over the building because sections of the hospital were incomplete. He could not even give a time frame by when the hospital would be made operational. “The DMK government opened it in a hurry without foreseeing the implications,” Palanisamy told the media here on Saturday. His comments came on the heels of reports that even the skeletal-level functioning of the hospital had come to a grinding halt and 16 patients in the emergency and trauma care ward were shifted to the GH. Defending the slow progress in completing the infrastrctural works, the minister said sanctioned funds had not been fully released.